The Little Lights of Coumarine City
by SpringPkmn
Summary: In Coumarine City, there is a well-known tradition for people to leave presents under the giant tree in the center of town to commemorate the mutual bond between people and pokémon. For Ash, this was the perfect way to thank his partners after a hard-fought battle with Ramos to win the Plant Badge. For Serena, this was a rare opportunity to get closer to Ash. Ash x Serena. Oneshot.


As soon as she saw the back of his trademark red baseball cap, she ran as fast as her legs would take her; the combination of sneakers and leggings was not a good one to run in. This fact was made especially true as she was carrying multiple heavy bags of presents for their pokémon. Basking in the glory of a recent gym victory against Ramos, the Coumarine City gym leader, he was staring at the setting sun leaning on a simple, undecorated concrete retaining wall that kept water from flooding the beautiful port city's streets. He was without the usual company of Pikachu on his right shoulder. As soon as he turned around and saw the honey-haired girl, he shouted a short greeting and made a gesture for her to come to him. It was five o'clock in Coumarine City, but the sun was already dipping below the threshold separating the ocean from the sky.

Pikachu, his partner from the beginning of his journey, was still sleeping in the pokémon center with the rest of his teammates, worn out from a long and difficult battle. The day prior, Ash and his friends learned of an annual festival to celebrate and strengthen the mutual bonds between humans and pokémon. People would leave presents for their pokémon under a giant tree in the center of town called the Vow Tree. He went shopping for presents discreetly for them today to thank them for their efforts in winning the Plant Badge and to celebrate the partnerships and friendships formed with all of his pokémon. Even though he was without his reliable partners, Ash knew that he could count on Clemont and Bonnie to take care of them as he went shopping. Being without his pokémon only hid the surprise from his pokémon more. As for Serena, Ash was unsurprised when she offered to accompany him on his errand. Serena took any excuse she could to go shopping, and she thought that the festival was the perfect one. The festival gave an excuse for her to shop, and she would get to spend a whole day alone with Ash. He knew as well as Clemont and Bonnie did that Serena loved to shop.

Serena nearly tripped as she ran towards the concrete wall where Ash was waiting for her. As she ungracefully fell towards the boy, she braced herself for a harsh impact with the ground. Thankfully, she was gently slowed to a stop, and Serena felt a body in front of hers. Realizing that it was Ash who broke her fall, her face quickly turned into a shade of faint pink.

"I expected more grace from a girl aspiring to become a Pokémon Performer," Ash managed to choke out, laughing.

He was turning red, but from laughter, not embarrassment. "Let's get to the Vow Tree before it gets dark."

Still pink from the initial shock of Ash catching her, her face turned even redder than Ash's face. When Ash saw her flushed, red face, he laughed even more, poking fun at how easily she got red. Ash was oblivious to the fact that she only got red in the face when she was with him, and that she was not so easily made that shade of red. The mocking was lighthearted and only lasted no more than fifteen seconds before Ash stopped to catch his breath from the heavy laughter and start walking to the Vow Tree with Serena.

The shopping trip was the first of those uncommon moments where Ash and Serena found themselves alone, without the siblings. The bond between the friends was so strong, there was seldom a moment when they were apart. Ash spoke up first, noting that this was the first time they were separated from Clemont and Bonnie on purpose. Ash was surprised about the rarity of being alone with Serena. Serena relished in the fact that she spent almost a whole afternoon with Ash, doing one of her favorite activities: shopping. She smiled at Ash, showing her contentment in being with him. As dense as Ash could be in reading emotions, the grin on Serena's face was not unnoticed as he turned to look at Serena to his left; he smiled back, indicating that he was also happy to be with her.

Breathing in the cool and dry evening air dried out Ash's throat as he walked, and it made Ash wish for something to drink. He spotted a vending machine in a plaza across the street with a few benches in front of a giant evergreen tree with a variety of presents under it, which was centrally located in the plaza. He pointed out the giant evergreen to Serena, indicating with his pointer finger that it was the Vow Tree. Internally, he thanked Arceus for putting the vending machine right next to the Vow Tree and decided to dash towards the machine across the street without regard for the traffic in his way to get to the carbonated goodness stocked inside the machine.

"Ash, wait!" Serena cautioned loudly.

"I'll get you something to drink!" Ash yelled back.

She was thirsty as well, but didn't want to delay Ash as they were shopping.

As Serena waited for Ash across the street, she spotted the vending machine Ash saw earlier and began walking towards it. Unlike Ash, she took the crosswalk across the busy avenue and decided to look for Ash near the vending machine. She directed her view to the boy in front of the machine and saw Ash putting his money into the machine and pressing a button to select his drinks. Two red cans of cola fell down and the machine made a thumping sound as the drinks were dispensed. As he turned around, he saw that Serena had followed him.

Ash pointed to one of the benches closer to the giant tree, motioning for Serena to follow him to that bench. "Serena, let's sit down for a while. The pokémon center is only a block away, and we have to put the presents under the tree before we call over Clemont and Bonnie anyway."

Serena, delighted that she would get to spend more time alone with Ash, quickly accepted his idea and followed his lead to the bench.

Shortly after reaching the bench, they promptly sat down. The day's shopping had taken its toll on their legs. Ash handed one of the cans of cola to Serena, who was sitting a touch closer than usual, thanks to the small size of the bench. They sat in silence as they sipped on their sodas. Serena came to the sudden realization that this moment gave her an opportunity: this could be the only chance she gets on their journey to show Ash how she felt about him.

Serena was the first of them to break the silence. "Ash... can I tell you something?"

Ash responded. "What is it?"

"I wanted to thank you..." Serena trailed off, nervously.

"For what?"

"I wanted to thank you for inspiring me to begin my journey and supporting me in my search for a dream. If I never saw you nearly die on TV saving that garchomp, I would have never gone on this journey, sought you out and reunited with you after all these years, met amazing friends in Clemont and Bonnie, or realized my dream to become Kalos queen. You inspire me, Ash." Serena clarified what she meant to thank the boy for, blushing as she explained.

Ash flashed the smile that Serena had fallen for many years ago back at Professor Oak's pokémon summer camp. "No problem," he replied.

Gathering all the courage she had, she took what seemed to be her greatest risk as she slid boldly towards an already close Ash and softly touched her lips with his, closing the small gap between their faces. Ash sat still with his eyes open, shocked by the new sensation. Ash had never experienced anything similar before, but he liked the new sensation of her lips on his. To demonstrate that he liked the new feeling, he decided to return the kiss. Noticing that Serena's eyes were closed, he closed his as he returned her affection. As soon as they were done kissing their faces turned as red as the prickly skins of spicy tamato berries. Feeling the heat on their faces, the two knew they were blushing and they both tried to hide their complexion from the other by looking at the ground in front of the bench. They still noticed their faces were still bright shades of red as they saw the other in their peripheral vision still staring at the ground. This was made more obvious by the automated streetlights that turned on the moment after they kissed; the sun had finally sunk completely into the harbor.

With the red draining from his face, Ash looked at Serena's face. "I never knew that you felt this way about me, Serena."

Still red, Serena asked Ash a question as she looked back at him. "Did you like it?"

Ash felt his brown eyes make contact with Serena's blue ones. "Kinda..."

It was six o'clock in Coumarine City as the sun vanished beyond the waterline, and the moon began to take its place, peeking over the hills that were dotted with little lights that overlooked the city from the east.


End file.
